Introduction
The popularity of the English tongue as a world language can be traced all the way back to the time when Britain was one of the greatest conquerors in the world, vying for world supermacy along with the Spanish colonizers. As such, all of the conquered countries under British rule came to speak English as their 2nd language. This is a trend that continued to grow over time and reached its peak during World War II when the freed countries within Asia fell under either British or American occupation. That is how a third of the population of the world came to speak in English as of today.
Analysis
As a business tool, English is the language of choice for most because of its easy to learn and is considered to be an ever evolving language because it adapts the words of certain countries where it is used. In other words, it makes life easier because everybody on the face of the planet speaks the language and you can be understood without the listener giving it a second thought. English is the language most used in business correspondence, technology, and science. Therefore, it seemed useless for people in other countries to try and use their own vernacular tongue in those areas when it would require the person on the other end to learn a new language.
Although the thought of English as the dominant language in the world has appeal for most people who have grown up speaking either the American or British version of the language, the reality is that it serves a limiting force as well. The world is becoming a global marketplace that has neither one dominating language because each area of the world is slowly coming into its own in terms of business dominance and financial importance. As such, English can no longer dominate these areas.
English is a language that evolves over time and is easily adaptable to the language of various countries. Which is why it seems to be the predominant 2nd tongue of the world. This poses the problem of the the death of the mother tongue in such countries because the tendecy if for English to dominate the language structure of the area. This in effect kills a cultural legacy and is perhaps the most negative effect that English poses as a world language.